Questão 11 - IDOMED Medicina 2024/1

WHAT IS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH?

 

By Sam Macarthur

 

    In the age of globalization, global public health is one of the foremost challenges facing humanity. Not any one nation, not any one coalition of nations, but all of humanity. That’s because global health is not just the work of massive governmental agencies, or international global health organizations, but of people in communities: doctors, nurses, educators, volunteers, and advocates. Fighting disease and spreading health throughout the world is one of the most important missions the human race can undertake in the 21st century.

    To put it simply, global health is important because life in the 21st century is global. With globalization of business, accessibility of transportation, and the information afforded by the internet, the world has gotten smaller in all sorts of ways. And with a smaller, more connected world, comes the reality that what affects one nation affects many.

    In much of the world, rapid industrialization and development has intensified global health challenges and threats, leading the UN to adopt its Sustainable Development Goals. Eliminating poverty and hunger are goals aligned with clean water and sanitation, while sustainability, responsible consumption and production, and climate action are explicitly tied to the overall well-being and health of populations and, as such, they are considered broader goals.

    Lack of resources is one of the most significant global health challenges. The lack of clean drinking water in many developing nations, for instance, is the immediate cause of epidemics like cholera, typhoid, and water-borne parasites. Global public health works to fight both the causes of resource scarcity and the consequences.

    Global health is also threatened by all sorts of diseases and illnesses, many of which can be treated with existing medicines and techniques, if the people could only access them. Some of the largest global health challenges in the 21st century include HIV and AIDS, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis, and malaria – almost all of which can be prevented or treated with modern medicine and sanitation.

    Other common global challenges faced by health professionals include events like Hurricane Irma in Puerto Rico, or the volcanic eruptions in Guatemala. Moreover, communities throughout the developing world are also affected by disasters caused by pollution, and much of the problem of unsafe drinking water throughout Africa and Asia is caused by unchecked pollution in rapidly developing urban areas and does not stem from natural causes.

Available at: mphonline.org. Accessed September 4 2023. (Adapted).

According to paragraph 1, to meet the demands of public global health, it’s necessary to have the joint work of: